I search the Internet for answers to computer technical problems that I encounter. When the Internet does not supply me with an answer, I research one on my own. Then, I document the answer here so others can find it.
Also, for your benefit, this stupid blog name makes a great mnemonic.

2009-10-16

How to determine the gender of Indian names.

I am embarrassed when I accidentally refer to someone named Devangi or Aparna as "he" in an email. So how do I avoid this?

Simply do a Google image search for the first name. If you see lots of female faces, then, presto! It is a woman's name. You can probably trust the converse result as well.

This is not bigotry on my part. I am merely trying to avoid referring to women as "he" out of ignorance. I am very appreciative of Indian culture.

For example, we European-descended folk refer to our numeral system as "Arabic numerals" because that is the culture that introduced them to us, but really they are Hindu numerals. The Arabs borrowed the idea (including the concept of zero) from the Hindus. In fact, a lot of Indian mathematics was co-discovered or predates the same European advancement, such a Fibonacci numbers.